Perla Engineering · 2026
Material Request System
Turning a verbal material request into a self-tracking, auditable approval chain.
01 — Context
Site engineers needed materials delivered on time, but requests were made informally — with no consistent record of what was needed, by when, or at what cost.
02 — The Problem
There was no single, trusted record of a material request from the moment it was raised to the moment it was approved and delivered. Cost, urgency, and approval level all had to be worked out by hand, every time.
03 — My Role
Operations at Perla Engineering
04 — The Approach
Rebuilt the request itself as structured data rather than a message, then automated everything that could be calculated instead of judged by hand.
05 — The System
A material request form feeding an auto-calculating log that works out total cost, the earliest date something is needed, how much time is left, and how urgent the procurement risk is — then routes the request through the right approval level automatically and generates a numbered, structured document for the record.
06 — How It Works
An engineer submits a request with up to ten line items. The system calculates total cost, earliest required date, and procurement risk, decides which approval level applies, and moves the request through a defined status — from pending review to approved, ordered, and delivered.
07 — Tools
- Google Forms
- Google Sheets
- Google Apps Script
- Google Drive
08 — Implementation
Live and in active use — the system is on its third revision, generating real, numbered request documents automatically.
09 — Current Evidence
No formal before/after measurement exists yet for time saved or request volume — that evidence is still in development.
Real generated request documents exist, but include another requester’s name and the company’s contact details — they aren’t shown here as-is. The description above reflects exactly what the system does, without exposing those specifics.